Ok, I am tired of turning all of the fish I kill into fertilizer. everything I have read on the web states that Grass Carp is great table fare. I cooked and ate some of the big grass carp that I shot last night. This was a large 44 lb grassie shot in the middle of summer(for Texas). the fish was very edible, but I would not put it anywhere near crappie or walleye.It reminded me of a 5-6 lb largemouth bass caught in the middle of summer.
My first dilemma is that I have about 15 lbs of meat left from this large fish. What can I do to make this fish more appealing to the palate? Should I only use smaller fish for table fare shot in the spring and early summer.
Is there anything I can soak this fish in to remove the fishy taste. Oh. I removed all of the red meat and mud line. I de-boned everything. I really want to make an effort to continue to eat this resource but it has to be appealing to the taste.
Christine is right. Really big ones can be marginal eating. I recently cooked up a 50 pound black carp and it frankly was terrible, but I really like the fifteen pounders - they are just like grass carp. I have not tried a grass carp over 30 pounds, but that is about the size they get a bit weird. The flavor gets stronger, and the fascia between the myomeres becomes thick enough to notice. I have done the same thing with redfish - when they get huge like that, that fascia becomes noticeable, and it is not something you really want to notice.
Also - grass carp are not immune to picking up off-flavors that result from bluegreen algae blooms. Of course, catfish are famous for that too. You might notice a bluegreen bloom - some kinds form a thick layer of green near the surface, and your boat will sometimes leave a clear-water track through it. But not all kinds of bluegreens act that way. It can happen at any time of year. Not terribly common, but results in nasty fish sometimes.
Christine is right. Really big ones can be marginal eating. I recently cooked up a 50 pound black carp and it frankly was terrible, but I really like the fifteen pounders - they are just like grass carp. I have not tried a grass carp over 30 pounds, but that is about the size they get a bit weird. The flavor gets stronger, and the fascia between the myomeres becomes thick enough to notice. I have done the same thing with redfish - when they get huge like that, that fascia becomes noticeable, and it is not something you really want to notice.
Also - grass carp are not immune to picking up off-flavors that result from bluegreen algae blooms. Of course, catfish are famous for that too. You might notice a bluegreen bloom - some kinds form a thick layer of green near the surface, and your boat will sometimes leave a clear-water track through it. But not all kinds of bluegreens act that way. It can happen at any time of year. Not terribly common, but results in nasty fish sometimes.
Thanks for the info. Is there anything I can do with the meat from the 44lb fish that is in my freezer. Is there a marinade or method of cooking that will make it better tasting or should I just make fertilizer?
Is the fascia the white lines that appear between the layers of meat?
I fixed some of the large black carp Carptracker had, and it was good. Not as good as grassie, but good. Trick was to fillet it real thin so it will fry up good. There are also marinades. I hesitate to give mine out - going to open a restaraunt based on it when I retire.
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Personal worst - 20# silver in the nads.
I posted this recipe previously:
1. Wrap the fillets in newspaper with lemon, pepper, and salt.
2. Wrap in aluminum foil.
3. Cook on medium on a gas grill for 10 minutes.
4. Unwrap the fillets, throw them in the garbage, and eat the newspaper OR give them Christine and Kendall to be used as fertilizer. (I added this last step)
ORIGINAL: David Hughes
Is the fascia the white lines that appear between the layers of meat?
Yup. That stuff can get nasty on real big fish. And the meat itself becomes more coarse, too. When I grilled some really large black carp, I could not get anyone but me to eat it at all, more than a few bites. I ended up taking the rest of the grilled fish and making a fish salad from it. Even then, I could tell the fascia was there, but it was not too bad. My guess is that fish will never be top-notch, but it probably beats Micky D's. Depends what you want to do with it, I guess. For an invasive species, better out of the water than in, in any case. If you don't like it, the compost heap seems like the way to go.
I've had some other really large fish that we just never ate, in the end. I killed a real wallhanger-size trophy red drum (48 pounds) once for food and have regretted it ever since, because I never could find a way to make it good to eat.
This comes from a guyhaving common carp caviarfor lunch as I type; I am more open to unusual dishes than most.
Need help cooking and eating Grass Carp
